I am going to cook on it a bit before any restoration. I don't want to dismantle it and not have it finished it in time for the June WKC picnic. I have too many kettles dismantled now that I need to finish restorations on. Because the prime rib smell is so overwhelming, I am cleaning the inside of the lid and bowl today. Lid vent spins freely, bowl vents are frozen but l expect will turn with minimal work. The legs are rusted into the leg sockets. The wheels spin but are rusted onto the axle and will not come off. Had to ship the kettle whole because of that. The ash pan is missing one twist on hook, one came off in shipping, leaving only one attached. The triangle is rusty, with a couple of pin holes through the metal. The biggest issue I expect will be on the front leg where the screw for the triangle goes through the leg. There is substantial metal degradation around the screw/bolt head. Anyone have suggestions on how to deal with this area?
Maybe stick a smaller pipe (PVC?) in the leg to keep the original leg as a sleeve? Just a suggestion.
I agree with this solution (maybe not PVC, I would use metal for the inside sleeve) to fix the front screw for the ash pan. I would put a sleeve inside the leg and screw the ash pan into that. It allows better metal to secure the pan but keep the front leg functional.
The start of the resto looks promising!!! Congrats and thanks for bringing this story back to light. As a recent member its cool to see the history of the forums and how people obtain these treasures.
